an independent mobile, alabama curiosity publicationindependent · mobile, alabama
mobizarre✳a field guide to
the beautifully peculiar.
01 / the numbers

a city, with footnotes.

three ledgers. three different boundaries. historical data you can actually trace.

the weather ledger

mobile airport · noaa ghcn station usw00013894 · january 2021–december 2025
source snapshot reviewed · october 8, 2026

what fell from the sky, and how often summer overstayed its welcome.

annual precipitation · inches

202183.00 in
202264.39 in
202356.79 in
202466.12 in
202563.92 in
read the data table & method
complete annual station readings · 2021–2025
yearrainfall (in)90°f daysdays ≥1 in rain
202183.004420
202264.399819
202356.7911517
202466.1211617
202563.928919

temperature readings are converted from tenths of celsius and rounded to whole fahrenheit before counting hot days. annual rainfall sums raw tenths of millimeters, then converts to inches. daily rain thresholds use hundredth-inch rounding. all 1,826 days have usable maximum, minimum, and precipitation readings in this retained sample. trace flags are preserved; they add no invented measurable rainfall.

these measurements describe one airport station, not citywide conditions. this five-year sample establishes neither an all-time record nor a long-term climate trend.

people & places

mobile city, alabama · acs 2020–2024 five-year estimates · january 1, 2024 place geography
source snapshot reviewed · october 8, 2026

203,416acs population estimate
90% margin of error ±65 people
98,380housing units
90% margin of error ±1,086 units
$1,068median monthly gross rent
90% margin of error ±$23

renter-occupied share: 46.0% of occupied units (approximate 90% margin ±1.3 percentage points). vacant share: 14.0% of all housing units (approximate 90% margin ±0.7 percentage points).

these are pooled survey estimates, not current resident counts or asking rents. gross rent includes applicable utilities and fuels; vacancy is not abandonment. mobile’s july 25, 2023 annexation changed its boundary. this extract uses january 1, 2024 city geography.

definitions & calculation notes

population: table b01003. housing units: b25001. gross rent: b25064, renter-occupied units paying cash rent. renter share: 38,974 / 84,639 occupied units, table b25003. vacancy: 13,741 / 98,380 units, table b25002. percentages use the census subset-proportion margin approximation. sampling margins do not cover every possible source of error.

geography: mobile city, alabama · census geo id 1600000us0150000. mobile county figures are not substituted.

what’s on record

mpd-reported crime · agency / police-jurisdiction coverage · 2025 ytd through december
source snapshot reviewed · october 8, 2026

the report says population and crime totals include the jurisdiction. these are not established as corporate-city-only counts. exact boundary vintage and detailed counting rules remain unresolved. we do not divide them by the acs city population.

reported crimes · listed part i categories · printed report page 6 / pdf page 8
source category2025 ytd through december
homicide32
sex crime47
robbery111
aggravated assault1,187
burglary729
larceny4,147
motor vehicle theft433
total of these listed categories6,686

the report separately labels 32 “total homicide cases” on printed page 16 / pdf page 18. cases are not inferred victim counts. these tables do not establish unique incidents, arrests, convictions, or a daily shooting total.